The UK government is considering expanding its Clean Industry Bonus scheme to cover the onshore wind sector.
London said it plans to consult on future proposals to extend the scope of the mechanism for incentivising domestic supply chain investment, which is being rolled out for the first time in this year’s AR7 CfD auction for offshore wind projects.
The comparative “underdevelopment” of the UK’s onshore wind supply chain against its offshore counterparts is a “missed opportunity”, according to the Industrial Strategy framework, published earlier today.
Policy goals to roughly double Great Britain’s installed onshore wind capacity to 27GW-29GW by 2030, however, present a “significant economic opportunity”, particularly by supporting existing strengths in development, balance of plant and operations services for UK onshore wind, it stated.
Up to 45,000 direct and indirect jobs could be supported through onshore wind in GB by the decade-end, compared to around 19,700 in 2022, officials claim.
The Industrial Strategy also sets out plans for government to work with trade association RenewableUK to conduct a supply chain capability analysis for onshore wind this year.
The intended outcome of the review will be to establish an industry-led UK local content goal covering the whole lifecycle of an onshore wind farm by the end of 2025.
The local content goal would be developed and led by industry, via the successor forum that will follow the conclusion of the Onshore Wind Taskforce, London said.
Officials are also considering whether the scope of a skills passport used for supporting oil and gas workers to transition into the offshore wind sector can be extended into onshore wind.